Changing Seasons
by Frostings
Summary: Now 17 years old, Haruno Sakura, under the supervision of Kakashi, is off to train for the finals in the Jounin exam. Yet as she prepares for the future, she finds herself clinging to the past. KakaSaku.


_She was awakened by touch.  
  
A soft breeze lifted the curtains, so thin they were almost transparent. The room seemed to be filled with an almost liquid light, drowning out any shadowed corners.  
  
She tried to open her eyes, but everything was so bright. She couldn't, not yet. She closed her eyes again, sighing softly.  
  
His hand was still there, on the spot between her jaw and her neck. It was so reassuring. Somehow, she knew he had stayed with her this whole time. She knew he never took his hand off so that he would be able to know if her temperature changed, however slightly.  
  
"Sakura." He called her name.  
  
She opened her eyes, slowly, trying to focus on the figure sitting by her side. Even in her drowsy state, even though most of his face was covered, she could see his small, relieved smile. In his other hand he held a small towel, which he had just taken off from her forehead.  
  
"Kakashi-sensei..." blurry images of what had happened before the world turned black came back to her. She looked away, staring at the curtains; too weak to even feel angry with herself. Too weak to be anything...  
  
"Sensei... I'm so sorry."  
  
"None of that now."_

_-------------_

**Changing Seasons**

A Naruto ficcie by...me. ==; bleh! (I don't own Naruto, btw)

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**Chapter 1  
**  
Sometimes, at odd, random moments in the years following that, whenever she'd look at her teacher, she'd remember that morning when she woke up in a hospital room. In the middle of a discussion of tactics, or while eating at Ichiraku, or training, or even in the middle of a fight, or when she opened her mouth (along with Naruto's) to yell at him for being late again, it would just hit her, just like that, and she would feel his hand on her cheek again. She would be thirteen again.  
  
But all she had to do was look at Naruto and _know_ that time had passed. She looked at him with fond eyes as he bantered with one of the cooks at Ichiraku. He was taller now, his voice deeper, and his features more angular. It was strange, though, because she had always used to think that the seats of the Ichiraku seemed rather awkward and uncomfortable for the "grownups." It was just today when she realized that she felt awkward and uncomfortable sitting there, too. Both she and Naruto had to hunch downward in order to eat properly. He was a head taller than Sakura, now, but she was also tall for her age.  
  
Some things, though, never changed.  
  
"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, you should try their new special! It has two lobsters in it and everything..." Naruto chirped enthusiastically. Sakura sweatdropped. _You'd think he'd try food other than ramen after seventeen years..._  
  
"Naruto, you're such a glutton." She muttered as she watched a huge, steaming bowl was placed in front of him. He didn't bother to answer as he happily dug in. She scanned the menu again, not really deciding on anything. _Oh, what the heck...it's gonna be a while before I get to eat ramen again..._  
  
"I'll get the newest special, thanks." She said, feeling nervous again as she remembered the task that she was about to undertake. She sighed, leaning on the counter, not needing to look to know that Naruto had already finished his meal. He was usually done in ten seconds.  
  
"Hey, Naruto."  
  
"Hmm?" he looked up from his intense study of an already-memorized Ichiraku menu, deciding on which one he wanted to eat next.  
  
She turned to him, smiling. "Thanks for seeing me off."  
  
He gaped at her. Well, given that Sakura _had_ been nicer to him (slowly, yeah, but at least it was a far cry from when they were kids) but still, her actually _smiling_ at him in such a way, and thanking him so sincerely...it was still short of a miracle. He blushed (he still considered Sakura one of the prettiest girls he knew), scratched the back of his head and grinned toothily, not knowing what to say.  
  
_Boy, she must be really nervous about this training._  
  
When her order arrived, she looked somber again. Naruto watched her out of the corner of his eye as he began on his second bowl of ramen.  
  
The Jounin exams. Sakura had barely survived that last fight, but she was able to push through to the finals. In true Sakura form, she had vowed that she would rather die, _literally_ die, before she allowed herself to fail the prelims. _"I'm not the academy's topnotcher for nothing!!"_  
  
Naruto had to admit, that at that time, he was afraid that she was going to fulfill her vow. Two months. She might be facing the same thing two months from now. He knew she was thinking back at that day, by the way her brow furrowed, the absorbed but distant look in her eyes.  
  
"How can you just stare at that beautiful ramen and not eat, Sakura-chan?!" he said loudly, gesturing with his chopsticks. "Don' t you like it? I can eat it for you if you want, and you can get another one..." he offered, sounding a little _too_ eager, in Sakura's opinion. But before he could even finish his sentence, Sakura's face suddenly took on a frighteningly determined look as she grabbed a pair of chopsticks, the bowl rudely tipping towards her mouth as she shoved the ramen down her throat. Having been around Naruto and Kakashi-sensei also taught her something on how to eat ramen, barbarian-style.  
  
She slammed the now empty hard on the table. "Another bowl, please!" she shouted happily. She grinned at her friend and made a V sign. Naruto chuckled. He should've known better.  
  
"So, Naruto, you're going off to train with that pervert again, now aren't you?" Sakura asked, four bowls of ramen later. She sighed in satisfaction, patting her stomach.  
  
"Yup!" Naruto nodded as he ordered another bowl. "He wants to go to some exotic hot spring place to train, I dunno." He made a face while he said this, but Sakura wasn't so sure if Naruto were as 'disapproving' of Jiraiya's perverted ways as he would like to seem.  
  
Sakura made a face. "Just don't enjoy yourself _too_ much."  
  
Naruto, ever the clueless one, nodded and smiled happily. "Yup!"  
  
She shook her head, grinning in spite of herself. Naruto would always be Naruto, but she would miss him. She had missed _this_, talking to him while eating hot ramen. They have been doing this every now and then, for four years now, after missions or when they weren't training and had time to kill instead of ninjas.  
  
And yet...and yet...she had always been aware of the empty third seat, and she still felt hollow at the sight of it. She wondered what it would have been like, if things had been different, how he would have changed, even slightly. True, she still whacked Naruto every now and then, especially when he became too excited over something or publicly declared his love out of the blue, but she had grown to respect him and admire him, Kyuubi or no.  
  
If he were here, would he still be calling Naruto 'dobe'? Stupid question: Of course he would. Would she still be asking him out? A blush rose up to her cheeks. She didn't know the answer to that one.  
  
And that was it. There were too many "what ifs." But what did it matter now? The third seat remained empty, maybe always will be empty.  
  
"Well, it's past two now." She suddenly said, and she was surprised at the sound of her own voice. "I just hope he's going for two hours instead of three late hours." She drew out her purse and said lightly, "This one's on me, Naruto."  
  
His bright blue eyes brightened even more. "Really, Sakura-chan?! THANKS!!" and before she could react, he had his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She was about to conk him on the head, purely out of instinct, but she somehow managed to restrain herself and even managed to hug him back.  
  
The moment lasted for a few seconds.  
  
"Nihihihihi...Ero-sennin was right. You do kinda have small boobs, Sakura- chan."  
  
Naruto's black eye lasted a week.

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Writing fanfiction after such a long time...hope you would forgive my stumbling mistakes. Don't flame me, I'm not making a living out of this, so I don't have any illusions of making this like Shakespeare. XD

I'd like to thank ALL the KakaSaku writers, and the KakaSaku fan artists out there (especially the really talented ones) for inspiring me to write fanfic once again. Even though Sakura is 17 here, and Kakashi 31...umm...well, I've seen bigger age gaps! LOL. XD Well, Kakashi's not here yet... but he will be! =D Just love Naruto so much heh. He's so adorable.  
  
Know what? I'm actually a big SasuSaku fan...more than my being a KakaSaku fan. It's just that I think writing about KakaSaku is a lot more interesting. Does that make any sense?? O.


End file.
